More than 180 women say they were sexually assaulted at Massage Envy franchise

Monday

Nov 27, 2017 at 5:38 PMNov 27, 2017 at 5:38 PM

The Washington Post

Dozens of women have accused employees of a popular massage chain of sexual assault and say the company has mishandled victims' claims or not addressed them at all, according to an investigative report by BuzzFeed News.

BuzzFeed reported Sunday that more than 180 women have filed police reports, complaints to state boards and lawsuits in civil court over the years against Massage Envy, a franchise that claims nearly 1,200 locations across 49 states. The women accused their massage therapists of groping and other forms of sexual abuse, according to the report.

Massage Envy has two Panhandle locations in Fort Walton Beach and Destin.

After the news of the allegations, Massage Envy called each incident "heartbreaking," saying that it will "never stop looking for ways to help our franchisees provide a safe environment."

The Buzzfeed "article references 180 reported incidents," the company said in a statement to The Washington Post. "These occurred over a span of 15 plus years and 125 million massages. But, we believe that even ONE incident is too many, so we are constantly listening, learning, and evaluating how we can continue to strengthen our policies with respect to handling of these issues."

Massage Envy's more than 20,000 massage therapists provide 50,000 massages a day, 1.5 million a month and 18 million a year, according to the company.

The BuzzFeed report highlighted a particular case at a location in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where massage therapist James Deiter pleaded guilty last year to molesting nine women from 2014 to 2015 and was sentenced to up to 13 years behind bars. One client, Susan Ingram, told CBS News it was during her seventh visit that Deiter violated her, throwing her into "a state of shock, disbelief, fear."

"He lifted up my body, groped both of my breasts roughly and aggressively. Put his hands down to the lower part of my body," Ingram recently told the news station.

The American Massage Therapy Association told BuzzFeed that "anyone who feels there may be inappropriate behavior to call the local police immediately" and that "any massage therapist who steps over the line to inappropriate touch should face the legal consequences."